Wrestling With Change - Don't Be Afraid!
Reflections on Reformation Sunday, October 25, 2015
John 8:31 -36 (The reflection come in 3 parts) and follow in a liturgical progression that are composed of voice 1, voice 2 and C:
C1) - Christ's Way is the Way of suffering and sacrifice, the Way of Prayer and Death so that others might live. (Pause)
I really like the idea of freedom. You know "true north, strong and free". You know, free to do my own thing - whatever I want, when I want. You know, Frank Sinatra's old song, still popular, "I did it my way!"
We so want to be free! When we are young, we want to freed from our parents' rule and regulations, free to drive the car wherever we want when we want, free to have our own money and spend wildly, freely.
But where has such "freedom" gotten us. There are vehicle crashes claiming lives and devastating so many others because people have expressed their "freedom" to speed and consume a whole variety of alcohol and other drugs. There are relationships of promise that have been violated individually and collectively in the name of freedom. There is even obsession with ourselves in eating or not eating, exercising or not exercising. There's freedom! Even large chunks of our world that has access to more than enough food and water, frequently forget about others who don't have enough. Where does our so-called freedom get us?
Do we hear Christ's voice in the memories of communities that have come over history to us? Christ is the One who frees us to belong together in God's family. Christ is the One who allows us to follow a path of responsibility and service. Might that be freedom- to be willing to regularly and frequently give of oneself on behalf of others?
It sounds hard. It is hard. In confronting powers begging him to do otherwise Jesus prayed so that He might be strengthened. He was. By God's grace we can also pray to be strengthened to do God's will.
To be sure Jesus dies, a horrible death. Nevertheless, somehow, miraculously through His life, His suffering, dying and being raised others are being delivered to new life.
Do we not see this? That even out of death, God can bring new life! Look around. As a baby dies to the womb, to the umbilical cord, he or she is ushered into new life. Look around - see the alcoholic, the addict admitting, yeah confessing that they need help. As they die to the illusion of self control, they are being opened to new life in and from God.
The second dialogue is spoken:
C2) Christ's Way is the Way of turmoil and change, the Way of the Confession and Forgiveness
I am not sure about you, but most times I don't like turmoil or change! I like order, even predictability. I like all my clothes hanging in the same place, sweaters neatly folded on a shelf. I like my candies in the cupboard with the bag tightly sealed to ensure they remain fresh. And I like my television remote in one place so that I can find it even if my hands are occupied with a sticky bun and a drink. I also like it when our children are happy and getting along - in a career path that is successful, accompanied by someone who values them and works with them. If that someone is a Christian, at least the sort of Christian that is relatively easy for me to live with – well, I really like that. I also particularly like it, when you all get along and come frequently and regularly to worship.
But whether or not, I or we like those things - this is not reality. Change is reality. Ongoing, seemingly endless change in our bodies, our minds, the earth, our relationships – that's reality. Often such change is accompanied by or even caused by turmoil.
The only way to avoid such change is by lying to ourselves. We can work to not see, to not hear, to not be aware of the change. We can attempt to disconnect from any of the overarching realities of life. Don't read. Don't watch TV or surf the net. Don't listen to others with different opinions, beliefs or values from your own. Refuse to care about or for anyone else. Don't travel to new or different places. But all of these "don'ts" will only serve our self-deception.
God sends us God's own Spirit. God's Spirit works through Christ giving us glimpses of God. Such glimpses may lead us to further questions. Why did he have to die such a horrific death? Do I have any part in His suffering or the suffering of others - even of those I love? Can I change? Can we change? Can God change me? How can I respond to this radical love of God through Jesus in my life? How can I reflect and embody the sacrificing love of Jesus for this world - especially for those many I know, the many I am beginning to see who are in need: physically, emotionally, spiritually?
These are overarching questions, mind boggling, humbling questions. O Lord, help us!
The third dialogue is spoken:
C 3) Christ's way is the Way of questioning and new learning, the Way of Baptism and Communion.
Do you dare ask questions? When we were young(er) most of us asked a lot of questions. We would ask our questions of almost anyone - our parents, our teachers, our friends, especially God. Yet, as we grow older we become much more hesitant to ask questions. I am not sure if that's because we think we know so much - or if it's because we don't want to look ignorant, uninformed or worse yet naive. There are always those "others", people whose opinions, perspectives of us matter so much.
But, if we don't ask questions, how will we grow, how will we be stretched to make room to learn, to see and experience new and changing realities? What if Columbus or the Vikings or the First Nations forefathers and foremothers had just stayed wherever it was they had begun? What if Frederick Banting or Martin Luther King Jr. or even Luther himself, hadn't asked or been open to the reality that major change is possible? What if musicians, artists and poets hadn't probed reality by dreaming dreams and then became the conveyors of new possibilities? Where would we be now - huddled in caves, very cold, with no dreams and little life?
We must not be afraid of truth. Truth emanates from God. In the most profound way Christ shows us truth: the truth that God cares for us, that God right now is working to liberate us from our slavery to hatred, violence, apathy, greed, insecurity, and all forms of death and evil.
God is working in Christ so that we and all of humanity can love as we are loved, forgive as we are being forgiven, even risk being rejected so that others might be honestly included, involved and loved.
Our Baptism into Jesus wills to kill that part of us that thinks first, foremost and ultimately only of ourselves and our limited capacities. Our Baptism into Christ joins us to Jesus' death and resurrection. We are not alone. Because of Him neither death nor evil has the last or the lasting word.
Our union in Christ leads us to communion - communion with God that is absolutely amazing and then through Him to forms of communion, interaction and care (as difficult , as complicated, as enlightening as that might be) with others - and with creation.
Dare we be open to Jesus and His Way?
Wrestle with this question with all our being.
The love of God in Jesus Christ refuses to give up on us and this world. In Him is freedom and truth and new untold possibility. Amen.